Little Drummer Wargal
by Rowana Renee
Summary: Will gets scared on a mission, so Halt tells him the story of the little drummer wargal. I may write a sequil soon.


Little Drummer Wargal

**Bold font is me.**

Halt noticed that Will was looking nervous as they got ready to go to sleep in the small camp.

He decided to wait for Will to tell him what was wrong instead of asking. After all, mentors don't ask questions, they know the answers.

Will's eyes were wide and he kept looking in all directions as if terrified. Halt coughed and would always swear that Will jumped twice his own height afterwards.

Will finally looked at all.

"Halt, are you sure it's safe to go this close to the ruins of Gorlan? We don't _have_ to go to them; after all, our mission is in a different place anyway…"

Halt nodded. "Yes, we do have to get near the ruins. Our mission is in Norgate remember? We have to help Malcolm with something. But we're also supposed to check just to make sure that there aren't any unwanted beings living in the ruins, so it's important to go this close to them."

Will shuddered. "But what if the wargals attack us?" he muttered.

Halt sighed. "Are you really going to have nightmares?" he asked, regretting it. Mentors don't ask questions, they know the answers, he reminded himself.

Will nodded. "Halt, you know what happened _last_ time we ran into a wargal.

Halt shrugged. "I seem to recall that you jumped half out of your skin, died five or six times, screamed like you were on fire, and missed about ten times before shooting it in the hand. But at least you didn't run away. You did manage to shoot it when it was trying to bite my head off." Halt replied.

Will shook his head ruefully. "Halt that was you that shot it when it was trying to _pull my_ head off."

Halt shrugged nonchalantly. "No need to bother with those little details." He said.

Will whimpered slightly and shrieked when a twig snapped. "Wha-wha-what was that!?" he yelped.

Halt sighed. "Will that was only a twig that snapped just now when you put your hand on it."

He watched Will squirm in fear before deciding to help out. He would always swear after the fact that it was only because he was getting annoyed, not at all because of sympathy for his apprentice.

"Will, I know you're sixteen now **(1)** and have a silver oakleaf…and that you're way too old to have to have me do this, but will you feel better if I… tell you a story or something?"

Will gave him an odd look and nodded.

Halt sighed. "Well, you may want to make a teddy bear or something first because the story's about a wargal."

Will shuddered slightly and Halt began.

"There was once a wargal who wasn't like the other wargals. He had a name and could speak like a human."

Will's eye widened. "Really?" he asked.

Halt gave him a withering look. "No. It's just a story. Don't interrupt."

Will nodded and Halt started over.

"There was once a wargal who wasn't like other wargals. She-"

"It was a boy a second ago." Will muttered.

Halt sighed. "There was once a wargal who wasn't like other wargals. It-"

"But you just said it was a girl…"

Halt wanted to slap him. "There was once a wargal who wasn't like other wargals. _He_ had a name and could speak like a human. His name was…was…"

Will cocked his head. "His name was _Was_?"

Halt glared, really thinking about gagging the boy.

"His name was Will."

Will blushed and looked down.

"And he had a mentor named Halt."

Will frowned. "You said that…"

Halt got mad then. "Shut up and let me tell you the story!"

Will nodded.

"His name was Will and he had a _human_ mentor named Halt. Halt was always teaching him new things that the other wargals couldn't understand, like how to shoot a bow and move quietly.

But the one thing that Will could never accomplish was to be quiet. He could move quietly yes, but he would never stop asking questions. One day Halt got annoyed with the constant questions and yelled at Will, threatening to tan-"

Will gulped slightly. "Um, Halt. I get that you don't want me to ask any more questions. I'll never ask anything again, I promise."

Halt glared. "It's just a story, what's your problem?"

Will shrugged and Halt went on.

"Halt also gave the same threat for when the young wargal interrupted him while listening to a story. Will obeyed, so it didn't quite come to that. One day Halt gave Will a drum. It was a nice drum too. It was carved out of wood and ,made nice music, except when Will played it."

Will sighed dejectedly.

Halt went on. "But eventually Will figured it out and could play the drum nicely. Then Morgarath ordered Will to go off and find a king named Crowley who was in…erm…a place called…Redmont. He wanted Will to find Crowley and kill him."

Will shuddered. "Why?"

Halt glared and pulled a switch out of his bag, fingering it casually. Will got the point and shut up.

"He wanted Will to kill Crowley because he didn't like Crowley. No one knew why. So Will left to find Crowley and dragged Halt along with him because he probably wouldn't be able to stay alive without his wonderful mentor. They went to Redmont, but along the way they ran into an elf named Alyss."

Will sighed. "Alyss." He muttered.

Halt whacked him on the leg with the switch, causing him to yelp and move a bit farther back.

Halt nodded and went on. "'Why did you run into me?' she asked. Will slowly backed away, having crashed into the poor girl.

'I…uh…I don't know. Do you know where we can find Crowley?' he asked. Halt stepped between them before Will could propose.

'Will, we already know where Crowley is. Now hurry up. We need to go kill him.'

Now Alyss wasn't happy about this at all. She shook her head at them. 'Oh no, you are not going to kill Crowley. He runs a group called the rangers. I thing you two should join.'

So Will and Halt agreed without asking questions. Except for Will, who asked enough questions for the both of them."

Will nodded. "And Alyss."

That earned him another whack.

"So they all went to Redmont to visit Crowley, who happened to be considering retiring. Halt happily agreed to take his place. But then Will ruined it and gave him a pep talk that made him not retire."

Will nodded proudly. "I remember that; it was right after we fought Morgarath."

Halt wanted to hit him again but decided not to.

"Halt became the most famous ranger ever and coached all of the other rangers. But Will was a wargal, so none of the other rangers wanted anything to do with him. Only Halt liked him. Alyss had hauled off and married a handsome knight called Horace."

Will sniffed sadly. "She would never do that!" he muttered.

Halt shrugged. "Well she had. The other rangers wouldn't let Will take part in any of the competitions that were held at any of the gatherings. One night Will was upset about it, so he started playing the drum that Halt had given him. The other rangers really like the way he was playing it, and Crowley told him,

'Wargal with that stick and drum…something something something.'

And then Will was the most famous ranger, which got on Halt's nerves.

But Will soon got upset about Alyss and got all emo on the other rangers, who were really wondering what his problem was. Halt got annoyed with him and got Gilan the gnome to take Will and Horace the troll warrior to a place called Celtica. Will did something really stupid and fell off of a bridge with the princess of Sugar Plum fairies. They wound up with the Christmas elves of Skandia, who took them to Santa's workshop to build stuff.

Will wanted to get away because he'd rather play with more violent toys, like knives and bows and arrows. Not to mention that gnarly cloak that magically turned him invisible. Then an elf named Thomas gave Will a drug that made him not by hyper for once. The princess of the Sugar Plum fairies enjoyed the silence but soon got bored not having the young wargal bouncing off of the walls. So she got Santa's number one helper to help her and Will escape so she could get Will hyper again.

She gave Will lots of coffee and a bit more non-hyper-making drug every now and then to make sure he retained what little sanity he'd had in the first place. Will got over it soon and they went out to catch some lightening fairies together.

But then they got caught by the evil nutcracker men who wanted nothing more than to destroy mushroom…I mean Araluen kingdom. But Gilan had told Will's brave mentor and Horace the troll what had happened, and Halt had been looking for the little twerp...I mean wargal for a long time. He found them right when the big bad wolf was about to huff and puff and blow Will and the Sugar Plum fairy princess down. Halt bravely fought off every single one of the men while Horace the troll stood there looking rather bold. Halt yelled at Will for three hours on safety and such before they went on about their business.

They found out about a war between the nutcracker men and Santa's elves. Santa himself got Will and Halt to help in the war, so Will trained a group of archers to shoot candy canes at the nutcracker men while Halt took care of the important stuff like making sure the men didn't get any walnuts.

Santa died during the battle, so his number one helper, Erak, took over and became Santa. This was bad because he only gave battleaxes as presents which made little kids all over the world either sad or in the healers house."

"Or dead…" Will muttered.

Halt whacked him again. "But then six years went by magically and Will had his own part of Araluen to take care of. He'd heard of a man called Jack Frost who was playing tricks on a place called Norgate. He went to check it out and got his girlfriend, Alyss, kidnapped by the real Jack Frost, who wasn't the one Will thought he was.

Alyss had decided it was much cooler to marry a wargal than it was to marry a troll, so she'd left Horace in the snow and begged Will to like her again. He gladly gave up the Sugar Plum fairy for Alyss and Horace the troll married the Sugar Plum Fairy.

But now Jack Frost had Alyss locked in the tower and Will had to rescue her. So he climbed up the tower and then almost got killed because he'd rushed things.

He got the guy he'd thought was Jack Frost to help him create a diversion while getting Horace the troll to attack the castle. He then went up into the castle to fight Jack Frost. He almost got locked in a snow globe before Alyss saved him.

Then they both got a lecture from Halt and then…"

Halt glanced up, noticing that Will wasn't listening anymore. Ah, the boy had fallen asleep. Halt saw that Will as smiling faintly and couldn't help grinning. He'd never admit it, but he actually did like his apprentice and would happily help out whenever it was needed. He decided that he'd finish his story another time, but in the morning he had a wargal themed prank waiting….He smirked and went to sleep.

**I know Will didn't graduate at 16, but I wanted him to so in my version he did.**

**R&R please. ;7)**


End file.
